Worst to First - The Sequel

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by ShagVT

Funny to see Eck on the 300 won board.

Yeah, he never did become a reliever in this world, and was able to get those extra 103 wins.

[NYY #23]

Welcome to the final portion of my worst to first journey. It's now July 15, 2013 in OOTP15 world, and it's time to take over a team again. I've been doing this a long time, and with just 8 teams left (maybe just isn't the right word) it's time to do something a little bit different.

Up until this point I've followed a certain format and I think I've stuck pretty closely to that format for a long time. So it's time for some changes in the final stage of my journey. First let's talk about what happened with the league since we last checked in -

First, in November 2011 the move to OOTP 15 was done. After that I decided to do a few things to modernize my world -

• Added in minor leagues (AAA, AA, A, Short Season A, Rookie League)
• Updated injury frequency to high (modern) and enabled drug suspensions
• Enabled minor league option years, advanced drafting signings and 2012 CBA Changes, and minor league free agency
• Enabled spring training
• Generated defaults for - International Free Agency, International Scouting Discoveries, International Established Free Agents, and Free Agents from Independent Leagues

Once that was done I decided to erase the league history, figuring that would help speed things up, and I still could refer back to pre-2012 history if needed. Then finally after the 2012 draft all historical players and imports were disabled, and the amateur draft was moved from November to June.

That leaved the final step selecting a team, and the original intent was to begin play in 2014 with one of the eight remaining teams (Astros, Twins, Giants, Dodgers, Angels, Rangers, Mariners, Rays)

I've been paying attention to four teams since the end of 2012 who are among the contenders for worst team - the Rays, Twins, Rangers, and Phillies (who aren't a candidate, just plain bad).

Fast forward to July 2015 and the Rangers have turned things around somewhat, checking in with a 48-45 record so they are out. The three worst teams in baseball are still the Phillies (37-54), Rays (36-56), and the Twins (28-62).

Looking at the financial health of the league, most teams are making money. There are a handful of teams in the zero to negative $5 million range, and the Rays are making a small profit. There are two teams that really, really standout though - the Phillies, projected to lost $43 million, and the Twins lost $54 million.

Our attendance has plummeted this year, our payroll is last, budget last, and the team in general is in pretty bad shape.

So it's time to head to Minnesota, and I have a feeling a championship could take a little while.

[NYY #23]

I arrived in Minnesota a few hours before game time yesterday, on the same plane as Hugh 'Golden' Arnold, yesterday's starting pitcher. Arnold was acquired in a trade with the Rangers right before I signed on the dotted line to become the next General Manager of the Twins in exchange for Michael Cuddyer and minor league outfielder Jim Collins.

Doing some quick research on Arnold, his last start came against the Twins and he lasted 2 2/3 innings, walked 5 and gave up 5 runs. He left the game with a 2-7 record and a 6.50 ERA. This was my welcome aboard present, a brand new number 2 starter. It's hard to imagine what my predecessor saw in Arnold, or why the Twins completed the transaction knowing they were going to fire him.

The 33 year old did have two things in his favor though - 1) he was cheap, and 2) he was a warm body.

Now he's our great hope in the press after shutting down the punch less Rays for 7 1/3 shutout innings last night.

He will slot in as our number 2 starter, right behind Blake Beavan (4-9, 5.22). Rounding out the rotation are Armando Gutierrez (4-8, 5.66), Juan Cortez (0-8, 4.39), and Will Smith (5-11, 4.78).

We do have 26 year old Lance Lynn on the disabled list, who was 10-10 with a 3.68 ERA last year, and a 3-4 record with a 2.76 ERA this year before his injury.

Our bullpen has a couple of pieces that could be part of our long term solution, 28 year old closer Tommy Layne, who is 3-2 with 13 saves and a 2.80 ERA. 29 year old Chris Leroux has a 3.32 ERA in 40 2/3 innings.

We do have a couple of highly rated pitching prospects, Vicente Cano and Curtis Woodruff. Unfortunately both are just 20 years old, so they are far away from contributing.

[mirrf]

Originally Posted by NYY #23

Attachment 348568

2009 - Florida Marlins 94-68 (.580) - GM (Defeated Houston Astros 3-1 in Wild Card, Defeated Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 in LCS, Lost to Oakland Athletics 4-2 in World Series, Season Score - 105)

Woo Hoo! Oakland A's! Billy Beane gets the ring!

[Trebro]

Good luck with the new system!

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by mirrf

Woo Hoo! Oakland A's! Billy Beane gets the ring!

The A's were definitely a tough team. Billy Beane did well!

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by panelpatter

Good luck with the new system!

Thanks, I'm definitely looking forward to a little bit more unpredictability, and added challenge of having players drafted not be ready right away. I think that will make it tougher to turn around a team, but more satisfying when it actually happens.

[NYY #23]

Last Week: 2-5

4-0 W vs TB
5-2 L vs TB
5-4 W vs TB
6-3 L vs TB
6-5 L @ CLE
2-1 L @ CLE
8-5 L @ CLE

Season Record: 30-67

My first week in Minnesota is complete, and as expected we've lost more games than we've won. This is going to be a long process with the Twins, and the number I'm concentrating on the most this year is our projected final balance of negative $47,497,197. I feel like we need to get in the black, and as quickly as possible. With a payroll of just under $23 million which is last in the league there isn't much payroll room to cut. Scouting and Player Development are two areas that we may be forced to cut next preseason, but we're locked in for this year.

There are a couple of intriguing international amateurs that I'd love to bid on, but we just don’t have the money to. With the trading deadline coming up I expect we'll make a trade or two. Shortstop Trevor Plouffe (1.9M) and Norichika Aoki ($950K) are our two most expensive players, so they should be a little worried. We have 9 players who arbitration eligible next year, but none are projected to make over $800K.

[NYY #23]

Last Week: 4-2

8-1 W @ CHI - Chris Iannetta and drove in 3 runs

6-3 L @ CHI - Armando Gutierrez lost his 9th game of the year giving up 5 runs in 5 1/3 innings

5-3 W @ CHI - Yonder Alonso was 4-4 for the day with 2 runs scored. Clint Barmes added a 3 run homer, his sixth home run on the season

4-1 W vs. DET - Hugh Arnold allowed just 4 hits and 1 run in 7 innings to win his fourth game of the year with Barmes homering for the second straight day

4-2 L vs DET - a 2 run homer by Joe Borchard was our only offense today as we were shut down by Yu Darvish and the Tigers today

7-1 W vs DET - Clint Barmes hit his third homer of the week and Joe Borchard hit a three run home run. Mark DeRosa went 4-4 on the night and Armando Gutierrez won his 4th game of the year

Season Record: 34-69

While I don't intend to go week to week I'm moving slower in the beginning and still reevaluating the team. I expect I'll be moving back to month to month shortly though.

We got the ball rolling with our first trade, sending shortstop Trevor Plouffe and LF Norichika Aoki to the Indians in exchange for 19 year old minor league starting pitcher Conner Powell and 21 year old minor league starting pitcher Victor Arce and $1,000,000. With the deal we added MR Darrell Rasner and left fielder Coco Crisp to our roster from AAA.

Our second trade was a little bit more difficult, but we completed a deal with the Giants sending 37 year old first baseman Bucky Jacobsen, 28 year old shortstop Sonny Cash, 27 year old catcher Jonathan Lucroy, and 24 year old starting pitcher Blake Beaven to the Giants in exchange for 18 year old starting pitcher David Herrera, 19 year old shortstop Jon Bland, 24 year old minor league centerfielder Adam Eaton, and 20 year old minor league first baseman Jose Solis.

Both Herrera and Bland are legitimate prospects, while Eaton is a somewhat fringe prospect, and Solis is just filler. We added catcher Dave Moore, shortstop Mark DeRosa, second baseman Ryan Theriot, and starting pitcher Jason Davis to the roster.

Our fans weren't too happy with either deal, as they were fond of both Plouffe and Beaven. The only player I hesitated on was Beaven though, but including him in the deal allowed us to add both Bland and Herrera. We really need to restock our minor league system though, and our top prospect list looks quite different now, and we've got some respectable prospects in the system. They are definitely all far away from the majors, and maybe none will pan out, but we're going to build from within in Minnesota.

I'm running out of value to deal at the major league level, but I won't rule out another deal before the deadline. The Twins moved up to 28th in the power rankings after our winning week.

[Trebro]

Looks like this is going to take awhile.

Can you give us an update on #23?

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by panelpatter

Looks like this is going to take awhile.

Can you give us an update on #23?

I think that this is going to definitely take a while. The Twins are definitely in bad shape? By #23 do you mean the Marlins?

[Trebro]

Quick finger typo--I was referring to Jeter.

[NYY #23]

Originally Posted by panelpatter

Quick finger typo--I was referring to Jeter.

What could have been for Derek Jeter. Things were going great for Derek Jeter in Colorado, and he signed a huge 7 year extension with the Rockies after 2000. The first four years went well, but a trade to the AL East in 2003 cursed Jeter. The next day after being traded to the Rays he fractured a finger and missed the rest of the season. The next year Jeter would play 140 games, but from that point on Jeter became injury prone. 99 games, 40 games, 67 games, 78 games. He'd never manage to stay healthy enough to play a full season.

He'd retire from baseball after a one year homecoming in Colorado in 2008 after his contract expired, where he had just 76 at-bats and hit .a career worst .250, just one of three seasons where he hit less than .300 (2007 he hit .293, 2006 he hit .296.

For his career Jeter hit .353 and finished with 2445 hits, 1235 runs scored, 177 home runs, 965 RBI, and 106 stolen bases. He'd win the World Series twice, once in Colorado, and in 2004 with Tampa. He would go to 5 All-Star games, and finish with 45.9 career WAR.

Those first six years in Colorado were really special for Jeter though, hitting .420, .398, .396, .367, .388, and .367. It is a shame that injury struck though, because he was on pace for some gaudy career numbers.

[NYY #23]

Last Week: 1-6

The week started with dropping two of three to the Rangers, and ended with a four game sweep by the Royals in Kansas City. Lance Lynn was activated from the disabled list last week, and allowed 3 runs in 8 innings in his first start back. To make room for Lynn on the roster Manual Calderon was placed on the disabled list.

Chris Iannetta hit .522 last week with a pair of home runs and 5 RBI. While making his second start for the Giants, Blake Beavan left the game with a torn rotator cuff and will miss the rest of the season. Sometimes timing is everything, and we were able to spin him off for a prospect at just the right time, especially since we aren't going anywhere this year.

One thing that I noticed in Minnesota is our lack of depth at the upper levels of the minor leagues. After trading anybody that I could with a pulse last week we were left with very few players capable of helping us out. I'm really talking about AAAA talent, but we do need to be able to fill out a roster. So this week we went shopping and offered some minor league deals to guys who in this world never amounted to much. The Roy Oswalt and Andy Pettitte's of the world who for one reason or another never saw major league success. Some of these names probably sound more impressive than they really are, but none the less, they'll provide some depth and some could see a call up to the show.

So while we could see Roy Oswalt get a call-up soon, just remember it's the same Roy Oswalt who went 1-3 with a 6.97 ERA in the majors, not the guy who won 163 games in his career.

[NYY #23]

The Twins finished the month strong going 6-4 over our last 10 games, but overall we finished with a 9-19 record in August. That's a .321 winning percentage, and that's not good. Even more sad is that's not our worst month of the season - that would be June when the Twins went 5-21 which equals a .192 winning percentage.

Being 38 games out of first place there isn't any hope for this year. We're even 15 1/2 games behind the fourth place White Sox. Even more troubling is our financial situation, which we need to get under control.

We made a couple of transactions this month, activating Alex Rios and John Mayberry Jr from the disabled list, and recalling Joe Saunders. We sent down Termell Sludge, Garrett Mock, and Jason Davis.

These weren't earth shattering moves though. Since being recalled Joe Saunders was 1-2 with a 7.13 ERA. After his last start he sent me an email asking me for a contract extension. Not likely. Alex Rios is hitting .256 and John Mayberry is hitting .260.

We'll take advantage of roster expansion in September and make a couple of additions to the roster.

[NYY #23]

The Twins finished the year with a 10-18 September and ended up with a 108 loss season. There's not a lot of bright spots to talk about now, but my first year in Minnesota, or half year is done. This is going to be an interesting first offseason in Minnesota. I expect 2014 is going to be another rough year, but we'll see if we can make some small improvements and not have to make too many unpleasant moves.

Minnesota Twins - 65-97 (.401) 35 GB
2013 - Minnesota Twins - 54-108 (.333) 45 GB, Season Score - 1

[NYY #23]

Heading in to salary arbitration I decided to non-tender the following players:

SP - Hugh Arnold (7-13, 5.70)
MR - Garrett Mock (2-4, 4.96)
MR - Mike Pelfrey (3-2, 4.91)
2B - Ryan Theriot (.218, 2 HR)
3B - Yonder Alonso (.251, 0 HR)
3B - Akinori Iwamura (.250, 0 HR)

Before the arbitration hearings we did come to terms on a contract extension with SP Lance Lynn on a 4 year $32,500,000 contract. The final year is a team option and next year Lynn will make $4.2 million. He's 26 and was 7-10 with a 2.73 ERA last year. That gives us a little payroll certainty for our ace although with our budget dropping for next year I'm still a little bit worried.

We won our arbitration cases with Tony Campana($800K) and Jake McGee ($800K), but lost our cases against John Mayberry ($2.75 mil), Keven Kouzmanoff ($1.18 mil), Chris Iannetta ($1.23 mil), and Chris Leroux ($1.3 mil).

That puts our 2014 payroll at $19.6 million with 21 players under contract. We'll have to fill out our roster somehow.

[NYY #23]

We started the offseason with bringing aboard 1B Shirai Matsumura from Japan, C Yoshinori Ohayashi from Japan, Kwan-Cheol Yang from South Korea, and MR Ivan Deleon from Cuba, all on minor league contracts. They'll each get an opportunity to make the team though.

Unfortunately my owner wouldn’t allow me to add anyone, not even on a major league minimum contract. So we completed a deal with the Cubs and sent MR Chris Leroux and MR Darrell Rasner in exchange for RF Eric Thames, 2B Mariano Cantu, SS Tyler Lowe, and LF Jose Cruz. We saved a million on the deal, and Thames did hit 23 home runs for the Cubs last year, but he's a low average, high strikeout guy. The rest of the players are minor leaguers who are close to being ready for the majors. They are far from stars, but we'll see if they can hold down the fort for 2014.

What came next was something that I didn't want to do. We made a deal with the Dodgers sending RF John Mayberry and SP Lance Lynn and got back the following:

SP Jason Lee (6-9, 3.83)
RF Steve Glass (13-58)
3B Matt Dominguez(28-98, 1 HR)
CF Luis Garza (#87 prospect in MLB)
2B Garrett Larson (.290 in S-A)

Let's not even pretend this deal is something that it's not - it's budget related. Giving up Lynn hurts quite a bit, but he'll be replaced in the rotation by Jason Lee, and while both Steve Glass and Matt Dominguez are young they'll be on our opening day roster. We did save quite a bit of money, but I do feel we lost this deal, and I'm already regretting it.

On the bright side the Twins now have 6 players in the top 100 prospects in baseball, including #1 overall 2B Joe Bland, and #2 overall SP Vicente Cano.

[NYY #23]

And with the off season complete this seems like a good breaking point. I'll be heading out of town this week for vacation, so it's time for a brief hiatus for a couple weeks and I'll return for what I predict will be an awful 2014 season for the Twins.

[NYY #23]

While Spring Training is practically meaningless you still like to see some good signs come out of it. For the Twins we went 7-21, with a lot of payers struggling. There were a couple of position battles that I was monitoring though -

Backup catcher - Yoshinoria Ohayashi vs. Dave Moore - if I was going by sprint training performance both of these guys would have made the team over Chris Iannetta, but I couldn't do that. Ultimately Dave Moore won the job with a .367 batting average

Fifth outfielder - Manual Calderon vs. Jose Cruz vs. Adam Eaton - Cruz was the easy demotion because of his .136 batting average. Eaton was the favorite in my mind and didn’t do anything to lose the job, hitting .288 with 7 RBI. However, Calderon is the better defender and hit .356 this spring with 3 home runs and 8 RBI. He won't hit that way all year, but I do like his speed and defense.

We're now "ready" for the season to begin. Our owner expects us to stay close to an even record, which should be possible, as long as his definition of close is pretty broad.